New Doco on Māori Television Examines Social Housing

A new documentary to air on
Māori Television in the lead-up to the election will
address the reality of low income housing in this country in
a climate of state gentrification and
privatisation.WHARE TAPA WHĀ,
(loosely translated as these four walls), will screen on
Monday, September 15 at 9.30pm.

The film explores what is
happening to state housing in New Zealand through the eyes
of two Māori women who are involved in opposing housing
projects.

Betty Kanuta is battling to save the state
houses that are being ripped out of her neighbourhood in
Glen Innes while architect and spatial design planner Fleur
Palmer is taking these houses to build a new community in
Kaitaia with He Korowai Trust.

Palmer's project is being
propped up through the government's privatisation interests,
while Kanuta’s neighbourhood, born out of early social
housing initiatives, is being asked to move out.

Produced
by Richard Riddiford and directed by award-winning filmmaker
Briar March, WHARE TAPA WHĀ brings
together a range of different perspectives to provide a
balanced view of the issues.

Throughout the one-hour
documentary, we see families who have to leave their homes
as well as the protests that happened every week as their
houses were trucked to the North.

WHARE TAPA WHĀ
also includes exclusive footage of what happened
the night Hone Harawira was arrested during a protest over
the removal of state houses in Glen Innes.

Developers such
as Creating Communities, Housing New Zealand’s preferred
partner in the redevelopment of Glen Innes, and He Korowai
Trust, which is responsible for the creation of the new
housing development in the far North, are also given the
opportunity to express their views.

“Housing is a
serious problem and a real election issue,” says March.

“We wanted to make an informative film to let people
know what is happening so they can make up their own minds
about how social housing should be managed.

“There are
some new ideas about social housing that are really
interesting but can we make them work?”

Tune in to
WHARE TAPA WHĀ on Monday, September 15 at
9.30pm for the full
story.

ENDSBACKGROUND

THE
TWO COMMUNITIES

Glen Innes was a planned suburb
built by the Labour Government after WWII as a way to
provide affordable state housing for the returned
servicemen.

Not unlike the He Korowai's Trust's plans for
the Far North, in the post-war era Glen Innes represented
the Government's egalitarian ideals for housing in New
Zealand, and became a showcase for what could be achieved in
this country.

Since the 1980s however the fortunes of Glen
Innes have dwindled and the suburb has become synonymous in
the media with a dysfunctional marginalised
community.

Sitting right alongside two of the wealthiest
suburbs in New Zealand and positioned next to sea views of
the Tamaki Harbour, Glen Innes is now the prime candidate
for Housing New Zealand to sell off some of the land to
developers in order to pay for the building of new state
houses.

In the Far North, many families live in makeshift
housing such as Skyline garages, buses, lean-tos, cowsheds
and during winter they leave their overcrowded homes and
re-occupy condemned houses.

Eighty-seven per cent of the
community is on some form of benefit, 34 per cent are single
parents and the average yearly income is $22,000.

It is
also extremely difficult for any Māori family to get a
mortgage from a bank as there are usually so many title
holders to the land.

THE GLEN INNES
DEVELOPMENTHousing New Zealand has sold land
(156 state houses) to private developers (Creating
Communities) who plan to build 260 new
houses.

Seventy-eight of these are to be state houses and
will be sold back to Housing New Zealand, 39 are to be
‘market-based affordable’ houses and the rest of for
private sale by the developers.

HE KOROWAI TRUST
PLANThe trust is buying decommissioned state
houses from Glen Innes, for a new settlement called Whare
Ora in Kaitaia.

Families in need of housing will be able
to buy the homes on a freehold license - while the trust
will own the land and support the families with budgeting
and other social services.

These Māori families will live
in a communal settlement that is close to a main town centre
where there are job opportunities and schools.

Houses will
sell for $130,000 and families will make weekly payments of
$220 (including an accommodation supplement of $70) for the
next 15
years.

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